Best bank for budgeting & multiple accounts

Cunning_Linguist_4

I live with my girlfriend and we are thinking about:

1) Setting up a joint account that we will both feed money into which will then pay for shared costs e.g. bills, rent, groceries, other shared costs.

2) We're thinking about setting up multiple accounts (and with multiple cards?) to then use for the account. E.g. to pay for groceries we use our groceries card, to pay for shared 'fun' activities, we use our fun card etc.

Does anyone know of the best bank to be able to do this and help us manage our money?

Thanks in advance!

grumbler

Cunning_Linguist wrote: »

1) Setting up a joint account that we will both feed money into which will then pay for shared costs e.g. bills, rent, groceries, other shared costs.

Do you research and think twice. Then think twice again.
Plenty of horror stories about joint accounts when people split, and nothing such accounts can do that sole accounts can't.

Another factor to consider is your credit histories linked together.

For joint expenses either use basic calculations every month or a credit card with an additional cardholder.
Alternatively, you can use prepaid cards, e.g. Pockit, that is free (if used correctly) and offers extra cards for the same account.

Does anyone know of the best bank to be able to do this and help us manage our money?

No bank restricts the number of accounts you can have (except accounts with some benefits).
And no bank helps you to manage your finances.

Anthorn

First of all, minus one for the joint account(s). All very well and good while you both still at least like each other but if the relationship turns sour or one of you gets into bad debt it will be a headache you can do without.

I don't know of any bank account which allows different pots and cards for different spending purposes. So as far as I know you'll be stuck with different accounts for different purposes. You could look at the alternative financial market such as prepaid cards, i.e. Pockit - 99p for the card and free P.O.S. Lots of others such as Cashplus.

System

I use an app called Pocket Money, available on PC, Mac, iOS and Android. I create 'dummy' accounts into which I transfer various amounts to allow for various budgets and when I spend something from one of these accounts I make a transfer within the app from the dummy account to my main account without marking it as cleared until it leaves the main account. Sounds more complicated than it is but it allows you to do what you want to do without the necessity of having physical accounts - and your online banking always matches what you actually have in your account.

colsten

Basically, if you are planning on using bank accounts for budgeting, you haven't understood what budgeting entails.

You can do budgeting with pen and paper, but a spreadsheet or better still a bespoke budgeting app such as YNAB would be a lot easier.

Bank accounts are just for receiving and making payments, and for holding money. They are not designed for budgeting.

grumbler

colsten wrote: »

...Bank accounts are just for receiving and making payments, and for holding money. They are not designed for budgeting.

Surprisingly, even MSE promote this so called 'technique':

Step 2: Set up different bank accounts for different purposes
...
To do this, set up a number of different bank accounts, each with money in it for a different purpose, so the money's effectively in little pots (almost as if you're putting them in different piggybanks).

Personally, I would call this "abuse of free banking", not a 'technique'.

>> Martin's piggybanking technique
>> Piggybanking techniques

colsten

grumbler wrote: »

Surprisingly, even MSE promote this so called 'technique'

I know but that doesn't mean I agree with it being the way to do things in 2015 - and frankly, I don't think MSE would do these days. They just haven't got round to updating their article. 10 years or so ago, when the article was first conceived, it was probably an improvement for those who couldn't operate a spreadsheet - i.e. most people.

But times have moved on. Many people have become a lot more computing literate, and many more useful apps have come to the market. It's time these apps were being promoted as the smartest way to getting a grip on your finances.

The only "danger" of people using those budgeting apps is that they get more financially empowered and more capable of making their own financial decisions.

I mentioned YNAB before, but just because that's a snappy name I can remember, it's got many positive reviews from MSE forumites, and it's a currently available app. I am using the no longer commercially available MS Money myself - it's still a perfectly good PC application and can be downloaded for free from several sites. There are many others about, e.g.

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/the-best-apps-for-managing-your-money-153930806.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/the-10-best-personal-finance-apps-7707377.html

http://www.which.co.uk/money/money-saving-tips/reviews-ns/personal-finance-software/

Or you can google for other alternatives.

Just about all the apps are better budgeting solutions than calling the manual shifting of money between bank accounts "budgeting".

Dobbibill

Cunning_Linguist wrote: »

I live with my girlfriend and we are thinking about:

1) Setting up a joint account that we will both feed money into which will then pay for shared costs e.g. bills, rent, groceries, other shared costs.

I would not go down the joint account route. One person can have the bills account in their name, all bills can be paid from this account, joint accounts do nothing better than a sole account. Both can pay into it, half each if you want to. My DS was with his gf for over 5 yrs but as soon as they moved in together, it went pair shaped. I'm not saying this will happen but due to him keeping a sole account for bills, there was none of the messing about that is often said about on so many posts on here.

2) We're thinking about setting up multiple accounts (and with multiple cards?) to then use for the account. E.g. to pay for groceries we use our groceries card, to pay for shared 'fun' activities, we use our fun card etc.

Again, as above, like other posters have said about prepaid cards or even in cash.

Does anyone know of the best bank to be able to do this and help us manage our money?

Thanks in advance!

Managing your money would be your task. Some people say YNAB or other apps are good, pen and paper is the good old fashioned way, but equally as effective if done correctly or personally I like a good spreadsheet. Here is a link to some different spreadsheets, household, personal etc